As more cases of possible wrongful detention come to
light, the Immigration Minister admits the need for cultural
change.

Embattled Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has declared her
department must change to a "user-friendly" culture, and announced
new measures aimed at avoiding the errors of the Cornelia Rau and
Vivian Alvarez Solon cases.

As the Government came under fire from all sides over its
detention policy, Senator Vanstone revealed that another 85 cases
of possible wrongful detention had been referred to the Palmer
inquiry into the affair, taking the total to 201.

There was also speculation last night that the Government is
preparing to launch a wider, judicial inquiry into wrongful
detention cases after the existing inquiry head, Mick Palmer,
reports on the Rau case next month.

Mr Farmer made the comment as he and Senator Vanstone faced a
grilling by a Senate Committee on detention policy.

Senator Vanstone's committee appearance led to an embarrassment
in Parliament later when Prime Minister John Howard directly
contradicted part of her evidence.

Mr Howard said that Michael Andrew Tran, born in Perth on Monday
to an asylum seeker family from Christmas Island, would live in
community accommodation on the mainland. The minister had indicated
to the committee the family would be sent back to Christmas
Island.

In her opening statement to the Senate committee, Senator
Vanstone praised the department's handling of the boat people
policy. "Nonetheless, the Government now wants the department . . .
to be a can-do department in terms of changing its own culture to
be one that is user-friendly and has an open culture of continuous
improvement," she said.

We profoundly regret what has happened in some cases."Bill Farmer,
Immigration Secretary

In his statement to the committee about the department's
mistakes, Mr Farmer said: "We profoundly regret what has happened
in some cases. It is distressing, and unacceptable, that our
actions have in some respects fallen so short of what we would
want, and the Australian people expect. We are deeply sorry about
that."

Senator Vanstone said changes to policy, processes and
legislation would be of little benefit without cultural change. "I
envisage this cultural change will include customer focus,
timeliness, openness to complaints and appropriate mechanisms to
identify problem areas."

Illustration: Tandberg

The new safeguards against detention errors include a unit to
advise on and verify identity, including managing an "early
warning" system to identify hard cases, and the appointment of
immigration detention review managers in each state and
territory.

Psychiatric services for detainees will be increased. A
psychiatrist will visit Baxter detention centre in South Australia
every fortnight (compared with six weeks at present) and two new
psychiatric nurses will be appointed to give Baxter coverage seven
days a week.

Access to care outside detention centres will be improved.

Senator Vanstone last night hinted the Government may launch a
judicial inquiry into detention errors, after the ABC's Lateline
report that Mick Palmer had recommended a broader, more transparent
inquiry, with extra resources and the judicial powers to compel
witnesses.

Lateline claimed Mr Palmer would step down after completing the
Rau investigation. He had said what would now be a caseload of more
than 200 should be investigated by the Ombudsman or a similar legal
authority.

Senator Vanstone confirmed she had held a number of discussions
with Mr Palmer but refused to say what he was recommending. Senator
Vanstone said she was "happy to wait and seek his advice". She
expected this before the end of June.

Asked whether she would support a judicial inquiry if Mr Palmer
recommended it, she said: "I certainly wouldn't rule it out."

In other developments yesterday, rebel Liberal MPs campaigned
for their proposed private member's bills to free long-term
detainees, while Mr Howard reaffirmed the mandatory detention
policy. But the Prime Minister said the search for opportunities to
administer it in a more flexible and compassionate way was "not
something that is regarded as having been completed".

· The Immigration Department last night revealed that
Vivian Alvarez Solon's former husband had contacted the Queensland
police in 2004 wanting to talk to the Immigration Department about
her deportation. The police emailed the department on September 28,
2004, but there is no record of a response.

The department realised on August 21, 2003, that in 2001 it had
mistakenly deported Ms Alvarez Solon. This followed a search of its
database after a Queensland police inquiry.